Under cabinet lighting recommendations, please. (1 Viewer)

[Dave Poehlman]

I was at the local Home Depot and I was looking at some lighting to go under the cabinets that will go over my mini-bar area. I would like them controled by a wall switch... maybe even a dimmer.

I looked at rope lights and the guy said they would yellow over time... and he wasn't sure how I could connect them to a wall switch.

So, I was leaning towards these little halogen numbers, but they also didn't have a solution for a wall switch. All they had was one of those roller swithces that you plug in.. I don't want a cord with a roller switch hanging out from under my cabinet.

If I can find something nice, I'll put a set in my kitchen as well.

Any input would be appreciated.

 

[MikePon]

Either option can be used with a wall switch. I have used both of the lighting you are refering to. I have rope light installed under my kitchen cabinets and around my deck. I have the small halogens installed in my basement hall ceiling (no ceiling clearance due to heat ducts). The under cabinet lights have an in-line rocker switch and plug into the wall. That was the easiest to do.

The deck rope lights plug into an outdoor plug. This plug is supplied with power from a wall switch. The wall switch can be dimmable but be careful not to plug anything but lights into this plug. The weed wacker doesn't work too well at 60 vac. Another trick on this is to cut the tabs on the outlet and feed the top plug constant power and the bottom plug switched power.

My halogens are again in the ceiling. They come with a step down transformer that plugs into an outlet. I cut the plug off and ran the wires into an octagon box above the ceiling. This box is supplied with power from a wall switch. The lights are now controlled by the switch. I'm not sure what a dimmer would do. If the lights only have a step down transformer to drop the voltage from 120v to 12v then the dimmer SHOULD work. However there is probably a voltage regulator in the circuit as well and therefore dropping the incomming voltage will not dim the lights. I would not recommend dimming low voltage halogens. They may make small line voltage halogens and then dimming is not a problem.

 

[George Martin]

Dave

I picked up a set of the under cabinet lights about 2 weeks ago from Home Depot. They came with a touch pad type on, dim, dimmer, and off switch. The switch is on a six foot long wire while the rest of the unit plugs into the wall. It worked great until the kids figured out how to work the switch to see how fast the could get the lights to to cycle through on/off.

 

[ace peterson]

We have some rope lighting above our kitchen cabinets which light up some of my wife's pretty things. The lights are white, but I think they do give off a yellowish light. However, I like the look. I have them plugged in and have never had them shut off in almost a year.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

Thanks for the info! The touchpad sounds like it might be my solution... I'll try to keep my 2yr old from it.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

David,

I installed some of those “little halogen numbers” in my kitchen last year. We love them, but it took some serious DIY to “do it right.” They actually expect people to drape a wire across the counter to a plug, and I guess just bundle up the excess. Of course, if you don’t have a convenient plug, you’re out of luck unless you want to string up an extension cord somehow.

Personally I hate that kind of stuff, so I fixed them to where the plug for the wall-wart was under the counter and switched by a standard wall switch topside, just like for any other light in the room. Much nicer!

Regards,

Wayne A. Pflughaupt